Salesforce Sales Cloud Professional

Lead and Contact Categorization

Includes the ability to not only manage information existing contacts, but also the ability to manage leads who are awaiting outreach.

Analytics and Reporting

Includes historical & real-time dashboard visualizations, detailed & summary reporting and easy data extraction for data analysis.

Data Ingestion and Interoperability

Includes bidirectional connections with external sources of data i.e. CRM Systems and Marketing Automation Tools, to improve the breadth of contact information.

Lead Distribution

Includes the ability to automatically load balance lead assignments to reps, or to assign leads to based on geography, product, or department.

Interaction Planning

Includes the ability to notify sales teams of outstanding interactions, completed interactions, and common next steps for funnel progression.

Lead Scoring

Includes the ability to identify quality leads from a pool of incoming leads using customizable scoring frameworks.

Prospect Tracking

Includes automatic placement of leads into specific steps in the sales pipeline and the ability to track prospects as they move through the pipeline.

Omni-Channel Communication Tracking

Includes the ability to track interactions with leads across multiple touch points (i.e. Social, SMS, Email, etc.)

Lead Generation

Includes the ability to capture contact information from individuals who interact with social posts, or other marketing outreach (i.e. email).

Mobile

Ability to support multiple devices, OSes and platforms using mobile optimized, HTML-based web access and/or native applications.

Ease of Data Integration

Use this data to determine whether the product will cause headaches or make data integration easy.

Breadth of Features

Users prefer feature rich software that enables them to perform diverse series of tasks. This data expresses user satisfaction with the product's breadth of features.

Quality of Features

Feature quality is just as important as quantity. Use this data to determine if this product will do what you're purchasing it to do, easily, intuitively, reliably, and effectively.

Ease of IT Administration

This data indicates whether IT personnel will be able to resolve issues and perform configurations efficiently and effectively.

Business Value Created

Software needs to create value for employees, customers, partners, and, ultimately, shareholders. This data expresses user satisfaction - or lack thereof - with the product's business value.

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement

Vendors who don't stay on top of emerging needs and trends won't enable you to meet your business goals. Use this data to separate innovators from imposters.

Ease of Implementation

Successfully implementing new software is necessary to realize its full value and promote end user adoption. This data indicates whether or not the product is easy to implement.

Ease of Customization

Don't get bogged down in a difficult customization; use this data to make sure you can easily achieve the functionality you need for your particular situation.

Availability and Quality of Training

Effective and readily available training enables users to get the most out of the software you've chosen. Use this section to make sure your vendor's training programs and materials measure up.

Usability and Intuitiveness

End user learning curves cost the organization money. Pay attention to your end users' technical ability to determine how important UX is in your purchase.

Vendor Support

The importance of vendor support will vary for each organization depending on internal capabilities, but there will always be issues that only the vendor can resolve.